Ahh, what a wonderful long weekend. ^_^ I had to be up with the former roomie on Monday, so I thought I'd snag a couple extra days off to meld with the weekend. And so Friday evening began with an impromptu pub crawl across four quite good (and delightfully proximate =:) establishments, including one with a very healthy selection of Scotches. We were appropriately merry upon said adventure's conclusion, some six hours later. ^_^ Being there, of course, also gave me the perfect opportunity to revisit some of "my" buns, from last year - and yes, they're positively thriving, with up to a dozen out in the open at any one time. Of course, I find that to be a tremendously positive indicator of the land, not to mention suffused with that inexplicable Zen relaxation of wildlife photography - so extraordinarily relaxing, yet so intense, concentrating on who's been particularly active, who seems to be making advances on others, or indeed, has just made a freestyle binky. ^_^ Like so:

Having thoroughly enjoyed Luc Besson's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, I can happily give it a thumbs-up. ^_^ It's somewhat like a blend of Tintin, Amélie, and Indiana Jones - or, if you've been watching ponies, Daring Do.

If you're looking for headphone reviews, you could do very much worse than this pair of links: 245 in-ear headphones and 102 portable headphones, ranging from a couple dollars, to high hundreds. Each review is carefully considered, too. (I'd concur with the verdict on mine - Sennheiser PX200-IIi, where the IIi is just the II with iPhone control added)

A Kickstarter of note: Anomalisa, by Charlie Kaufman, whose previous work includes Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's going to be a 40-minute stop-motion animated feature, with a goal of $200k - quite a modest sum, possible due to the collective resources of those involved in the project. It's fairly likely to succeed in its aim, as it's already over $140k, with a deadline of Sep 9.

MIT's showing off glasses-free 3D video, looking very promising - it produces more of a genuinely holographic end result, so you can actually move your head around the display to change the 3D scene.

In a potentially interesting development in the EFF's case against the US government's mass surveillance program, "Three whistleblowers – all former employees of the National Security Agency (NSA) – have come forward to give evidence in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) lawsuit against the government's illegal mass surveillance program, Jewel v. NSA. In a motion filed today, the three former intelligence analysts confirm that the NSA has, or is in the process of obtaining, the capability to seize and store most electronic communications passing through its U.S. intercept centers, such as the "secret room" at the AT&T facility in San Francisco first disclosed by retired AT&T technician Mark Klein in early 2006."

If you've been looking for a good desktop Twitter client, Hotot might be the answer - but we won't know for certain until its release. ^_^; It's coming for OS X, Linux, Windows, and as a Chrome extension. Or, right now, there's Tweetbot for OS X - but note that it's far from a final release, as they point out.

Sustrans notes that Google Maps UK now includes cycling routes, and that they'll be working with them to help improve that information.

If you're in the EU, and think ACTA's done for, beware of its revival, via a different treaty. This wheeze lacks the ISP provisions, but otherwise attempts to introduce similar terms via the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA), currently nearing its final stages of negotiation.

Finally got to see the (more or less - they're not absolutely ruling out the show might return, someday) finale of Hustle over the long weekend, too. Ahh, yes. I don't tend to follow many series, but Hustle's easily amongst that number - generally quite tight plotting, allowing for inevitable artistic license, and a crew chemistry that works. I shan't offer any spoilers, but it did indeed provide an intense ending.

And as for Alabama 3? Maybe not the most famous band around, but their site does a good job of summarising what they're about, even if the outcome might be awkward to envisage: "We're the Alabama 3. We make Sweet Pretty Muthafuckin Country Acid House Music. All night long. We're not from Alabama, and there's not three of us. We're from Brixton, London. We're the fellas that did that Soprano's theme tune. That tune bought someone a swimming pool, but it sure wasn't any of us…" You might want to check out their video and audio pages for some example tracks, such as Woke Up This Morning.

You mean ACTA? Indeed. It's a priority - one way or another, such provisions will get rammed through around the world, unless people remain opposed. In the UK, it's arguably too late already, with the wonders of the Digital Economy Act, and soon, the authorised widespread surveillance of anyone they wish (as opposed to the quiet surveillance hitherto). In both cases, apathy was and is widespread, despite much hearty back-slapping with ACTA's "defeat" - people are generally inclined to be sceptical about the reality or feasibility of such measures, even when presented with evidence to the contrary, until it's fully out in the open.